Your World is Your Pulpit
By Susan Shanklin
Can’t help be happy!
It’s 36 degrees, but they say it feels like 23 degrees, and the wind is howling from the west and I can FEEL the change in the air. Ha ha.
Yes, who knows what tomorrow will bring. For me, I know I am safe in my Father’s arms and the best is yet to come. . . for ME, but what about those beyond my borders of 3.3 acres?
I have CNN.com and NYTimes along with the Star Tribune and the local paper on my computer tool bar. I read throughout the day the misery, toil, and corrupt failings of my neighbors, states, and nations. You read it too somewhere, in the papers or on the evening news.
Our oldest daughter, Heidi, lives about an hour-and-a-half away in Minneapolis. It’s my big adventure to drive into the city and see Heidi and little granddaughter, Eve. Many times we go to local thrift stores and a wonderful food coop. On one particular occasion a man walked up to the car asking for money. Me, small town country bumpkin that I am, kind of freaked out.
Why, my granddaughter was in the back seat and Heidi was rolling down her window and asking what he WANTED! The man was a little disheveled and in need of seeing a dentist. He was asking for direc- tions and bus fare. Unbeknownst to me, he was really begging for
money to buy alcohol, according to Heidi. She reached into the dashboard console and pulled a fist full of change and gave it to him. Heidi then rolled up her window and we left the man counting the change in the palm of his hand.
What will tomorrow bring the people we see in the grocery store, the retail store, on the news, and on the street? I, myself, hate to see people hurting, in lack, abused, and sad. I hate corruption and manipulation of man- kind. I hate to see children in need of a hug and adults angry at the world. I could shake my head. I could frown. I could empty my bank account. I could look away. Or, I could do better.
I shall make my world my pulpit! I will take my light into the world of Mankato Minnesota. I will smile at people in the store and pick items off the floor and put them on the shelf again. I will give my tithe, offering, and alms. I will share the love of Christ where ever I go!
There are no man-made laws forbidding kindness, a joyful spirit or generosity. Whatever a man or women sows that shall they reap. I say, take your candle into the nursing home, school and mall.
Your world is your pulpit! Preach with joy. Preach deliverance. Preach with peace. Preach with your life. Preach the truth in love. You never know when the time is ripe for the living Gospel of Jesus Christ to spill out, onto and into one of these citizens of the world.
Fear not, for the Father knows those who are His. Fear not to walk into the world for the Father is right beside you. Fear not to smile from your pulpit. Fear not to extend your hand and say, “This is the Way.”
Go!